Slide 2- About the ASA- Jiamin

What is the ASA?

The Advertising Standards Authority is the UKs independent regulator of
advertising across all media.
It was set up in 1962 to promote high standards in authority
The ASA works along the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) to ensure that
all codes of advertising practices are not broken.
The ASA recommends that advertisements should be legal, honest, decent and
truthful.
What is their purpose?
Five strands of strategy1. Understanding- They aim to be fair and balanced when assessing the
evidence and arguments, and try to act within reasonable time, as they
understand that the company needs information as to whether the ad can
continue to run.
2. Support- They provide support to advertisers to help them create
responsible ads.
3. Impact- They aim to spend the majority of their time on the most
important matters. So theyll spend less time tackling ads that cause little
detriment, however when a rule is broken they will investigate.
4. Proactive- They are a very proactive authority, they make sure ads are
responsible even if they havent received an official complaint.
5. Awareness- They want to make sure that the public know who they are
and what they do, so that they can engage with them when they need to.
Slide 3- Cap Codes-Jiamin
They are used by the government to lay down the rules for advertisers, agencies
and media owners to follow.
They include general rules that state advertising must be responsible, must not
mislead, or offend an audience and abide by specific rules that cover advertising
to children and ads for specific rules that cover advertising to children and ads
for specific product sectors as alcohol, gambling, insurance, health and cars.
Slide 5- About the BT ad-Joe

The advert was about promoting the broadband service and offered
availability checker which customers could search and check if it is
available is their area based on their landline number and address.

Slide 6 the complaint-Joe

When customers went to use this availibility checker they were pushed back an
initial 10 days, but when they returned to the website 10 days later they were
again pushed back, causing customers to complain that the service being offered
was not working.
Slide 7 Cap codes breached-Joe
3 Cap codes were breached, 3.1(discuss) 3.3(discuss) 3.7(discuss)
The legislation that applies to this ad is The Control of Misleading Advertisements
Regulations (1988)
Slide 8- Reason and Outcome-Joe
The ASA concluded that the complaints expected that BT Infinity to become
available in their area on or around that date of availability checker, not to be
subsequently extended for further months.
Slide 10-The complaint Ammer
- Customers complained that their children had seen the ad during the day, and
challenged whether it was appropriate for their viewing.
- Customers also complained that the ad caused distress, and found it hard to
watch; due to fear.
Slide 11- Cap Codes breached-Ammer
The advert breached 2 cap codes 1.3(discuss) 4.2 (discuss)
Slide 12- Response-Ammer
When giffgaff produced the ad they thought it was unlikely to cause distress to
people over 18. They explained that the ad played out into a humorous ending.
Giffgaff explained that they had elected for the ad to be played for five seconds
before it could be skipped, but did not believe the content in the initial five
seconds to be unduly distressing; the screen was black and only the beginning of
a woman's screams were heard.